Former Catholic Bishop of Salt Lake City Decries Religious Bigotry in Political Ad; Defends LDS Role in California Ballot Initiative Protecting Traditional Marriage
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Nov 07, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The following statement was released today by Bishop William Weigand, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento and former Bishop of Salt Lake City, in response to attacks on the Mormon Church for supporting California's Proposition 8, defending the traditional definition of marriage:
"Catholics stand in solidarity with our Mormon brothers and sisters in support of traditional marriage--the union of one man and one woman--that has been the major building block of Western Civilization for millennia.
"The ProtectMarriage coalition, which led the successful campaign to pass Proposition 8, was an historic alliance of people from every faith and ethnicity. LDS were included--but so were Catholics and Jews, Evangelicals and Orthodox, African-Americans and Latinos, Asians and Anglos.
"Bigoted attacks on Mormons for the part they played in our coalition are shameful and ignore the reality that Mormon voters were only a small part of the groundswell that supported Proposition 8.
"As the former bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, I can attest to the fact that followers of the Mormon faith are a good and generous people with a long history of commitment to family and giving to community causes.
"I personally decry the bigotry recently exhibited towards the members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints--coming from the opponents of Proposition 8, who ironically, have called those of us supporting traditional marriage intolerant.
"I call upon the supporters of same-sex marriage to live by their own words--and to refrain from discrimination against religion and to exercise tolerance for those who differ from them. I call upon them to accept the will of the people of California in the passage of Proposition 8."
SOURCE: Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento
I posted a comment saying that there were protests in Salt Lake City. The Amendment passed. Why protest it?!
I got into a pretty heated discussion about this issue. I WILL NOT back down. I believe Homosexuality to be immoral. I do not want my children to be taught that it is acceptable. I have learned that people have a lot of wrong ideas about The LDS Church's involvement in Prop 8. Someone accused The Church of using Tithing funds. I told them that individual members of The Church may have donated money to the Yes on Prop 8 but not tithing funds. People are screaming at Mormons to be tolerant. We are not being violent on this issue. We are not backing down from what we know to be right. Marriage is ordained of God and is between one man and one woman. It has been since the beginning. God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Adam or Eve and Eve. It takes a man and a woman for this species to continue. Gay marriage is not normal or acceptable in my standards.
I posted a comment saying that there were protests in Salt Lake City. The Amendment passed. Why protest it?!
I got into a pretty heated discussion about this issue. I WILL NOT back down. I believe Homosexuality to be immoral. I do not want my children to be taught that it is acceptable. I have learned that people have a lot of wrong ideas about The LDS Church's involvement in Prop 8. Someone accused The Church of using Tithing funds. I told them that individual members of The Church may have donated money to the Yes on Prop 8 but not tithing funds. People are screaming at Mormons to be tolerant. We are not being violent on this issue. We are not backing down from what we know to be right. Marriage is ordained of God and is between one man and one woman. It has been since the beginning. God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Adam or Eve and Eve. It takes a man and a woman for this species to continue. Gay marriage is not normal or acceptable in my standards.
17 comments:
Great letter! It is so nice to have support from outside sources.
I agree!! Thanks for sharing.
Aprilyn, Thanks for keeping us posted on this issue. I, too, am blogging about it on my personal blog.
It's scary. I heard that these violent protesters full of hate actually have a list of the biggest financial contributors. WHile I'm not on that list I'm fearful what else they may do to act out? Who's being intolerant???not us, that's for sure!
The "No, on Prop" people are trying to change the meaning of tolerant. To them it means accept us or we will punish you. We must continue to be unafraid to stand up for what is right.
One good thing to come out of all of this is that many of the Christian churches are showing respect for the LDS Church in ways that have not been there been before.
I think it's disgusting and it makes me sick that they are even being allowed to protest. It was put up for a vote to the entire state and it won by MAJORITY vote! I would love to see these people who are issuing threats, including death threats, be hunted down and punished for hate crimes. That's what they are committing. The majority has voted. It must stand.
The right to protest is something that we should never wish to be taken from us. If so, women would never have been allowed to protest for suffrage and blacks would never have been allowed to march for equality.
Regardless of where you stand on the issue, the right to protest is very important.
Yes, but when that begins to interfere with the rights of Church members to peacefully assemble (at our temples), that is where one group's rights stop so as not to infringe on the rights of others.
Well, this is an issue we are unlikely to see eye to eye, DTC. It could be said that the way the protest groups are viewing Prop 8 is infringement on their rights.
I think the thing that is sad to me is that my brother in law is going to face discrimination for the rest of his life for something out of his control.
Given that Civil Unions provide all of the same legal benefits as marriage (without redefining a term which has had a specific meaning for centuries), and given that Prop 8 does not affect couples joined in these unions in any way, I fail to see how this law would cause anyone to "face discrimination."
I have known several gay and lesbian people in my lifetime, and I don't wish any of them to suffer any form of discrimination. However, in the same manner that I could not simply redefine a cow as a fish and serve beef to a Hindu, I do not want the gay community to redefine marriage and try to serve it to me.
DTC:
I am quite surprised at the number of people from the Mormon church who find themselves surprised at the reaction from the gay community. I am trying to frame this in a way where you could see it from the POV of a homosexual California citizen, like my BIL.
To people like my BIL, this vote was about taking away something that had recently been legally defined as a civil right. You clearly find it an inappropriate one. But please don’t be so naive as to think you can take something of that magnitude away and then feign surprise at the reaction.
To Aidan's mom:
I appreciate your respectful comments here. I think too many people discussing this issue become angry and vicious. You obviously have a different opinion from others commenting here but you are sharing your thoughts with patience. may we all do the same. Trying to Understand each other's point of view is a good thing.
I am very curious as to how you would react if one of your sons came to one day in the future and told you that he was gay? What then? Would you stop loving him? Would you kick him out? Would you want this opression to befall him? All gay men and women are trying to do is live a happy meaningful life. They are not trying to push their lifestyle on anyone else, and are not trying to hurt anyone. The churches involvement in this proposition was hurtful. Think of your sons. Why would you raise them to hate someone simply because they were born different? Isn't that exactly what your church preaches against?
Changeisneeded-
I would not hate my son just so you know. This isn't about being oppressed. They have rights. They just don't have the right to change the definition of marriage. I am done arguing this position. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is being unfairly targeted. We don't hate anyone. We are not out there yelling, holding up signs that say we hate gays or anyone. How dare we expect civility from the gays/lesbians? How dare we expect to be treated the same as everyone else. Mormons are not a huge percentage of people in California, yet we are the only ones being targeted.
There is absolutely no hate in Proposition 8. It just plainly states the definition of marriage. We don't teach our children to hate. We teach them to love. We also teach the commandments of God. I have family members who smoke and others who live with significant others they are not married to. I still love them. They are invited to my home, and I'm invited to theirs. If they come to my home they don't smoke or sleep together, because they respect my values. If I had a child that was gay, I would still love them. But, I would not be happy with their behavior if they chose to act on those gay feelings. That doesn't mean I don't want them to be happy.
If gay marriage become legal then that life style has been validated, when a majority of Californians voted that gay marriage was not within the values they hold dear. Californians have voted twice. Gay couples have absolutely all the legal rights under California that same sex couples do. We are happy to let them live there life in peace that way. However, we don't want the definition of marriage changed. It is time honored and has stood for centuries, and what we believe to be within the commandments. Our religious beliefs need to be respected. Again, we don't hate anyone. Prop is NOT about hate!
Aprilyn,
I never insinuated you hated gays. I did call into question the idea being forwarded that they do not have the right to protest the actions of the Mormon church in providing much of the funding for the "Yes on Prop 8" campaign.
Several reputable sources indicate that somewhere between 30 to 40% of the Yes on 8 campaign came from the Mormon church.
Again, you may not see it this way, but from the point of view of a gay person living in California, they had a civil right to marry on November 3 and then suddenly the right was stripped away.
To expect that they would not be angry at the largest funding source on the Yes campaign is being a bit naive.
And to Cindy....don't you think it is a bit onerous to tell a gay person that you still like/love them but they are not allowed to pursue love and act on their biological feelings?
That is a life that most people just cannot lead.
I firmly believe marriage is a designation that should completely be taken away from states to grant. Let states grant civil unions so there is no discrimination and let churches be the ones to grant marriages.
As for respecting your religious beliefs, an argument could be made that you are expecting others to live by your religious beliefs even if they do not hold them.
We are free in this country to not be bound by the tenets of anybody else's religion.
Being able to understand the POVs of people who think in ways you don't is important to having peace in this country. Do you really not understand why the gay community would be upset at the Mormon church for funding a HUGE percentage of the Yes of Prop 8 campaign?
My biggest gripe about this whole topic is that this right to marry was granted by judges AFTER California voted against it. The Mormon church wasn't involved that time.
Also, so The Mormons were more involved this time. So what? They did it peacefully by letting people know about what Prop 8 says, not lying to them. They didn't stalk people's homes, hurt them, demand they resign from positions of employment, protest in anger outside their homes or places of worship, write hateful words on signs and yell at people, or graffiti the walls outside their places of worship. That's just a few of the things that have happened. I don't understand their anger towards Mormons. Fine. What I don't understand more is that these HATE CRIMES continue to happen. Yes, Hate Crimes. Yes on Prop 8 people got the word out LEGALLY and calmly without hurting anyone. This is out of control.
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